A mix of landscape and wildlife

More from the Lakes in the next couple of days. I have quite a backlog of photos so my next few posts will come closer together and be a mixture of landscape images from the Lakes and birds from Fuerteventura.

Fuerteventura

After a long hard year at work, we treated ourselves to 10 days in the sun last October when we went to Correlajo in Fuerteventura.  This was primarily a holiday to relax and lie by the pool or on the extensive white sands that border the sand dunes of the Parque Natural de Correlajo. And this we did. But having said this, the opportunities for bird photography were really quite good, without really having to do much more than go out for a walk.

Whimbrel    

One thing that stands out from this holiday was the ability to get really close to wading birds that you would struggle to get near in the UK, and some which you might not even see very often.  One of the birds we saw on the first evening, as we strolled along the beach to find a restaurant, proved to be relatively common and, with care, quite easy to approach.

The Whimbrel is very similar in appearance to the more familiar Curlew, but is smaller, has a shorter bill and two broad lateral stripes on an otherwise pale crown. There were large numbers of individual birds along the rocky shoreline around Correlajo.

WhimbrelCorrelajo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

WhimbrelCorrelajo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

WhimbrelCorrelajo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

WhimbrelCorrelajo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

WhimbrelCorrelajo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

WhimbrelCorrelajo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

One bird in particular allowed me to get very close indeed.

WhimbrelCorrelajo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

WhimbrelCorrelajo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

WhimbrelCorrelajo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

WhimbrelCorrelajo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

WhimbrelCorrelajo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

I particularly liked getting down low and using the dark rock in the background to really make the bird stand out.

WhimbrelCorrelajo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

WhimbrelCorrelajo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

It was amazing how close you could get to these birds!

For many more Whimbrel images from around the Correlajo coastline please go to the Wading Birds gallery here.